


Braveness over blindness

by Cinnamaldeide



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon Miscarriage, Don’t copy to another site, F/F, Lingerie, Missing Scene, Revision unrequired, Season/Series 03, aesthetic included
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:42:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25181173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamaldeide/pseuds/Cinnamaldeide
Summary: Hannibal promised to kill her, and Alana intends to savour every borrowed second at her disposal.
Relationships: Alana Bloom/Margot Verger
Comments: 13
Kudos: 36





	Braveness over blindness

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [Maddie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddiecontrary) for having beta read this work, which will probably be included in _another_ book I’m planning to publish ❀

In a moment of sudden clarity, pointing a gun at Hannibal with trembling hands but resolution in her wet eyes, Alana experienced for the first time the feeling of being  _ prey_.

She had screamed to stop at him, had seen the veritable shifts and fluctuations between the man and the beast, the way he reassembled the disrupted fragments of his human guise in her presence, letting Alana face the monster Will had warned her about.

Blood was drying on his temples while awareness resurfaced from his predatory gaze, and Alana found herself thinking about Jack’s car, parked right beside her own, asking on his whereabouts, contemplating possible reasons why she hadn’t realised sooner the real nature of her past mentor–

Then Hannibal replied, “In the pantry.”

And she started running.

•

“Cannot see what you will not see.”

“Until it shoves you out a window.”

Her pelvic bone had cracked and a burst of marrow had flowed from the fracture into her blood. Alana had almost died, broken an indefinite amount of bones in her body, agonized in a hospital bed for months before she could move to a wheelchair, but her confrontation with Frederick had perhaps hurt her more than the long hours of recovery and self-recrimination she underwent. It had hurt her ego, and at some point she swore to herself that Hannibal would pay for having let her suffer Chilton and his complacent reproach.

It was the first time Alana realised she had a vengeful streak in her, hidden under kind manners and devoted altruism, and she thought that she ought to be grateful to Hannibal for having taught her that lesson about herself.

A fair trial, rather than ruthless torture. It would have been righteous.

And Alana thought that would require some manipulations.

•

It might have sounded obvious, but walking with a cane hadn’t benefitted her wounded pride.

Aside from her juvenile acne and unsightly dental braces in her teens, Alana had been an attractive woman for most of her life. She was used to tactfully fending off advances.

She was  _ not _used to fending off offers of aid from well-meaning bypassers whenever she climbed stairs. Their concern felt like unbearable commiseration.

When Margot Verger laid eyes on her upon their first meeting, regal and sharp in her riding attire, Alana knew pity wasn’t a feeling the woman was accustomed to experience.

There was an admirable fierceness in her posture, as if the rich heiress of the Verger meat-packing dynasty had noticed the black car slowing down to her leisure trotting, and an ill-concealed curiosity upon reaching the mansion.

As if Margot had looked forward to her arrival, and wasn’t disappointed by her expectations.

And Alana felt beautiful under her appreciative looks.

•

After a while, Alana came to think of the Verger estate as a two-staged theater, with different actors and scenes and storylines, and herself as a contact point between rather dissimilar worlds.

On one side of the curtains, Mason Verger consulted her on her past lover and his refined taste in tablecloths, silverware and rarified Chardonnays, and Alana patiently endured the crude teases of a cruel paralyzed man. On the other side, Margot Verger sent her luscious glances, wore mesmerizing shades of lipstick on her full, perfect lips, and politely inquired after the perfume Alana recently purchased.

“It suits your natural scent,” she complimented, making Alana blush.

The previous fragrance reminded her of heavy rain drenching her clothes and pieces of broken glass surrounding her trembling, unmoving limbs. “I needed a change,” she replied. “My wardrobe has similarly underwent some slight adjustments already.”

Margot smiled, eyelids lowered. “I’d be glad to offer my input, should you ever require a second opinion.” She had made sure her brother wasn’t around to hear her.

And Alana didn’t struggle with recognizing the blatant overture.

•

“Come closer,” Margot gently beckoned her. “Won’t you let me look at you?”

Alana moved with slow steps into the room, limping out of the dark shadow and into fair light. It felt cold on her naked skin.

Margot had presented her with elegant shoes and close-fitting dresses at first, and then escalated to dark lingerie and discreet jewelries. Alana had accepted her gifts, even returned some of them with equally audacious presents, and learned that Margot genuinely relished the sight of her in expensive garments and tasteful makeup.

Alana quite liked being the recipient of her attention.

“I want you to feel comfortable in front of me,” Margot said, leaning forward on the edge of her leather settée. “And I know you’re as eager in showing me as I am in watching you.”

Alana had combed her hair in a manner that left her shoulders mostly covered, her breasts framed almost demurely by bare arms and goose bumps, white garters encircling her waist. She enjoyed the famished stare that Margot reserved solely for her, in rapt delight, before fondling her thoroughly.

There were unspoken flatteries in her keen silence.

And Alana was receptive to the sweet affection.

•

As her not quite veiled flirtation with Margot bloomed into a fulfilling but ultimately secretive relationship, Mason gradually diverted his attention from Hannibal, living and thriving in Europe with a substantial reward on his head, and began eyeing speculatively his sister and her infertile womb.

Alana knew there were mutually-unspoken agreements between the wealthy siblings, pacts to ensure the private carnage wouldn’t upset the family business, and privately contemplated her role in their tacit conflict. Margot had informed her about the controversial will left by her late father, and knew that her partner had attempted to procreate with the aid of a suitable sperm donor despite her predilection for the fairer sex.

She learned much later that the suggestion had come from Hannibal Lecter himself, and that Will Graham had fathered the dead fetus that Margot desperately clutched at her chest, tears running down her cheeks and blood seeping through her shirt.

And Alana vowed she would grant her a little Verger.

•

It took them long hours of therapy, years of interminable court battles and a strategic pregnancy, but Margot eventually inherited the largest part of the Verger empire to subsequently pass on the son that Alana had delivered.

It happened right before Frederick was removed as director of the Baltimore State Hospital, and replacing him had been an essential step in ensuring that Alana would own the five keys to every single door separating Hannibal from the outside world.

“You died in my kitchen when you chose to be brave. Every moment since is borrowed,” the man claimed. “Your wife, your child, they belong to me.”

There was a certain poetic justice in watching Hannibal from behind a protective glass and sitting on Chilton’s mahogany desk, however hard it was to live an existence in fear.

She learned to value every second with her gorgeous wife and beloved child, and knew one fateful night Hannibal would escape.

And Alana would abandon her opulent chateau and face the consequence of her choice.

**Author's Note:**

> There is pitifully little Marlana content around lately.  
> I wasn’t kidding about the book. Let me know if you’re interested, or if you spot errors I should fix.  
> [Find me elsewhere.](http://cinnamaldeide.carrd.co) [Post on Twitter](https://twitter.com/Cinnamaldeide/status/1281588953607483409).


End file.
